Thousands of Australians were evacuated Wednesday, Jan 25, with dozens being rescued, as monsoonal rains sparked flash flooding and landslides and a cyclone threatened to form in the Pacific Ocean, AFP reported.
Emergency authorities ordered 4,200 residents of five towns in New South Wales to abandon their homes as a huge storm lashed northeast Australia, causing rivers to break their banks.
The downpour caused flash floods and landslips in neighboring Queensland overnight, swamping homes and forcing hundreds of roads to close, with 26 emergency rescues as cars were swept into surging waterways.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the downpour, which has flooded homes was a terrifying reminder of last year's devastating floods which killed 35 people and inundated tens of thousands of homes.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for northern NSW on Wednesday, forecasting "heavy rain which may lead to flash flooding".
Several local rivers were already breaking their banks, the bureau said, with a "greater than 70 percent chance of major flooding as well as local flash flooding from today onwards."
